Unbreakable- Zell, the Friendly Neighborhood Martial Artist
by Skij Leonhart
Summary: Zell's character is unique and deserves some spotlight as well, right? Rated M for safety for violence, profanity and suggestive language. Additional author created character in addition to Zell along with the rest of the gang; Seifer is the main antagonist.
1. Chapter I: The Road to Hell

A/N: (The whole fic is a w-i-p, bear with me)

Hey guys! This is my first fic! I'm still getting used to this formatting, and until I get home to see how it looks on a desktop; for now, enjoy the (possibly) crappy formatting!

Also, as the name suggests, this FFVIII fic will be about our favorite 3rd wheel, Zell! And no, he won't be paired with Quistis. It'll be mostly Zell POV, and it's a ("cliche") high school setting. If you don't like this, or it's too common for you, well hate comments won't get you anywhere.

For who he _is _paired with, I made my own character based on who I thought could compliment Zell well and make it interesting- just another student at GHS- Garden High School (_soooo original, I know_).

Big thanks to Ashbear and Emerald-Latias for giving me a lot of inspiration to write something for the fandom (I mostly just write for friends) and note to Ashbear for giving me the idea to feature Zell as a main character (After the Fall). I also took this chapter's name from a line common to both writers; hope they don't mind.

Without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter I: The Road to Hell...

The halls were bustling with an abundance of chatter and lively banter; the loud, triple sounding bell's rings echoed throughout and the crowd was eager and excited to get to lunch, post-4th period. Everyone was pushing around to try to get closer to those glass double-doors, but, as usual, all the effort was all in vain as today, the strictest, crabbiest, annoying-est teacher was on guard: Mrs. Crabapple. The name led to a lot of nicknames, mostly unpleasant.

Zell Dincht was usually the liveliest fellow in GHS; nothing stopped the 5'6" blond from going anywhere or getting anything. That, and his excellent repertoire of tae-kwon-doe and karate techniques; but today was a rare exception. He really needed a _lot_ good food to cheer him up, and with most of the teachers he could weasel his way into the lunchroom early, but not with her. Today he'd even felt the need to present his case to her, explaining that he hadn't eaten breakfast and he had a tutorial to get to in a few minutes. She just frowned at him and pointed to the back of the line. Sighing, Zell found himself shuffling to the back of the line, and almost halfway there when a hand grabbed his arm, shocking him out of his stupor.

"Psst!" A voice whispered from the massive "line" to his right; to him, it seemed more like a snake that ate one-too-many-a mouse and then tried to roll over, failing in its endeavors partway through.

He turned back first to see if Mrs. Crabby was watching, then slid next to the mystery person in line without a second thought, much to the dismay of a few concerned students behind him. Hunger brought out the worst in Zell, and as he glared daggers behind him, the students seemed to squirm around as if they were dodging not even daggers, but full length swords.

"Hey, thanks for helpi-" He managed to get out before his voice shrunk to a squeak with the realization of who had let him skip. He blinked a couple times in surprise before resorting to just staring as his jaw hit the proverbial floor.

"Oh, it's not a big deal." Her tone slid down to a whisper with the progression of the sentence, her face turning slightly red as she looked down at her feet. The voice responsible came from a now-blushing, dirty blonde-haired girl, standing at approximately 5'2" and looking even shorter as she kept her head down and her eyes glued to the shoe she was sliding back and forth across the tile floor.

Zell's jaw was now breaking through the proverbial floor, quite possibly reaching Centra at this rate. That, combined with his mind on overdrive, was pushing him out of his usual carefree character.

Zell's mind raced. _"She's quite possibly the prettiest girl in the entire class, and she not only helped me cut but she's acting shy around me?"_ As an afterthought, he added, _"Something must be wrong with my face."_ Zell looked past his partner in crime at the glass that, at the moment, doubled as a mirror. After he was sure that he looked normal, he cleared his throat and regained a bit of his confidence.

"Oh... Hey, I just wanted to thank you for letting me cut, I'm really hungry and I haven't eaten breakfast and if I don't eat I get cranky and I have to go to a tutorial and I- uh, I'm rambling aren't I." Zell finished, his confidence sliding closer to when she had initiated the situation.

Julia had turned to him and was now smiling innocently, humored by his tendancies.

"It's alright. I, uh, kind of get cranky when I haven't eaten, hehe." Her face altered with a twinge of mock seriousness. "But, don't tell anyone, or else I might have to kill you!" She threw on her best angry face and fake-roared at him, sending both into laughter.

"Thanks for understanding. Oh, by the way, my name's Zell. Nice to meet you!" he responded with his usual enthusiasm, sticking out his hand with a grin.

Julia's cheeks tinged with a light pink as she returned the gesture with a rather small hand compared to his larger, knuckle-gloved one.

"The name's Julia. Nice to meet you too!" She answered with her own smile, which almost immediately turned to a frown, confusing Zell.

"What's wrong?" He rose an eyebrow as she dropped the handshake. Her face lit up as if she was remembering something (think cartoon lightbulb moment) and she questioned, "Didn't you say you had to get to a tutorial?"

Zell's eyebrow shifted to a frown, and he nodded. She continued, "You know most teachers stop those at around twelve, right?"

Zell quickly slid out his phone and hit the side, illuminating a large **11:53** on the top. He looked back up with a disappointed face, sliding his phone back in his pocket.

"It's already too late... I wasted too much time arguing with Mrs. 'Crabby' over there." His whole body slumped, and they made their way with the now-moving line, her walking, him dragging his feet. He looked over as she tapped him on his shoulder.

"Maybe I can help? I'm not... too good at math but anything else I should be able to do well." She looked up at him (she's approx half to 3/4 of a head shorter than Zell) hopefully. Zell's demeanor improved as he thought over the new plan.

"Yea, I need help with the English unit; I'm... bad at grammar." He looked at the ground with his latest confession, continuing on in the line and managing to not let his feet drag as much. When he looked up, they had arrived at the front of the line where talking was "extremely frowned upon" by Mrs. Crabmeister.

_"That's a new one. I like it." Zell inwardly smiled."_

Since he was unable to talk, he looked over at Julia and mouthed a, _"Help me?"_

She nodded in response, and he smiled. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day after all.

With Zell's attitude restored, he marched into the seating area with his two hotdogs in one hand, his phone in the other. He was putting in his recently obtained number when he felt a strong shove from behind him. It was enough to topple him, forcing him to make a split second decision between his phone breaking or going lunch-less, as the lines were closing down. The long term benefits won out, and he reached for his phone, saving it as the pair of his chili-covered friends took a dive for the worst, splattering all over the floor and partially on his white shirt. He looked up at the offending party, which consisted of a tall blonde with his signature white trench coat, and a trailing party of one, consisting of a relatively tall brunette with locks of hair trailing in wavy tresses underneath the backwards baseball cap he had on.

"Oops." The tall blonde remarked with an evil smirk donning his face. The brunette stayed silent, fixing his cap and hair idly.

"Seifer... Now's not the time. I... have somewhere to be." Zell growled, standing to glare up at the taller teenager (these two have the same height difference as Zell and Julia).

"Aww, chicken-wuss trying to avoid a fight? You're not getting away from _this_ one, coward." Seifer spat back, shoving Zell backwards. By now, a decent crowd was forming and encircling the two. While Zell was regaining his footing, Seifer looked back to see his brunette "friend" backing away from a potential fight.

"**Irvine!** Get **back** here." Seifer demanded, merely causing Irvine to back up farther.

"Yea, no. You're on your own for this one." Irvine drawled in his southern accent, as he melded into the now-complete circle of onlookers. He had transferred here unexpectedly last year after his old school closed down due to an unexplained fire.

Seifer rolled his eyes and turned back just in time to dodge Zell's first flurry of punches.

"That all you got?" Seifer taunted leaned his face closer to Zell after he stopped throwing punches. Zell growled inhumanly and flung himself at Seifer, who stopped messing around and started throwing punches and kicks back, one catching Zell in the side. Zell crumpled and slid sideways across the cafeteria floor. He looked up in time to catch another fist to the face, and right before Seifer could get on top of him and do real damage, a slightly feminine shout of "Stop!" rang out.

E/N: Heh. I like cliffhangers. Who could it be? Could they get Zell in more trouble? Save him? Injure his pride? Who knows. (except meeee)

Feedback is greatly appreciated and it aids in the writing process! It's also a great confidence booster.

Until next time!

_Skij Leonhart_


	2. ChapterII: Is Paved with Good Intentions

A/N: Started this chapter on a plane after I fixed the old chapter one, making it longer than it was (it was shorter than that? Yea, it was.)

Hopefully I'll get the chapters up to a reasonable length; I haven't read a large enough variety of authors (the only ones I read always seem to hit the 5-6k mark so easily and consistently) to know the avg. length of a chapter (I'm thinking 3k-4k words?)

EDIT: Yea, no, it didn't even hit 2K words. I'll try harder next time, I promise!

Deary me. I know the POV changes a lot, but hopefully you guys can figure out what's what. I'd say I promise to make next chapter more linear when it comes to who's perspective it is... but I'd probably be lying. Sooo. Good luck and review please!

Without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter II: Is Paved with Good Intentions

"Stop!" The feminine voice rang clear throughout the now silent cafeteria. Many students who had stopped to watch were now slinking away; only a few remained nearby. Zell had turned to see who the voice belonged to, only to receive another kick to the face from Seifer, who never took his eye off the shorter blonde. Before Seifer could jump onto Zell, a pair of students in the Disciplinary Committee grabbed one each of Seifer's arms, dragging him away.

"We'll settle this next time,** chicken-wuss**!" Seifer sneered as he started to voluntarily walk away, pushing away the two students arms.

Zell merely sat up on the ground, cradling his freshly bruised face and bloody nose. Seifer had sustained a few scrapes and bruises on his arms, but it was clear who was the victor in this half-desired fight.

"Zell!" A second, higher pitch voice cried out. He turned his head sharply only to immediately regret it- a jolt of pain coursed through his neck. The pain lessened slightly as he saw his newly acquainted friend jogging up to him. Julia crouched next to Zell and reached out to touch his face, recoiling as she was rewarded with a wince from the injured student.

"Get him to the infirmary, please. I'm going to go deal with Seifer- I may not have seen what happened before I got here, but if anything I can punish him for that kick." Instructor Trepe spoke up, making her way over from shooing the rest of the onlookers away. She pulled a notepad out of her inside jacket pocket, writing a note while speaking to Zell and Julia. "Here are passes for you two to miss your next class without repercussions. Squall?" She called over another student around the same height as Seifer, but with a black leather jacket instead of his counterparts' longer, white trench coat.

"...Yes, Instructor?" Squall drawled, annoyed that Trepe always called on him; even more so that he hadn't walked away faster.

"Please, escort these two to the infirmary and make your way over to my class later; the tardy will be excused." Instructor Trepe ordered, and while not missing a beat she turned around to put an arm on Julia's shoulder while Squall started helping Zell up.

"You must be a little confused; I know you aren't injured, but... Zell doesn't usually take well to these kinds of situations and you seem to be friends with him. Could I ask you to keep him company and... find out what happened? He might not tell us the full story." Julia nodded with her trademark frown re-appearing.

"This... happens often?" Instructor Trepe sighed, and nodded slowly.

"Sadly, yes. It's either Zell or Squall, with Seifer being the common denominator. Thank you for your help; if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach." The young teacher sighed again, patting Julia on the shoulder once more and walking away with purpose, the sound of her heels clacking on the laminate floor fading away with each step. Julia backtracked a few feet to grab her half-empty lunchbox, then started running after the two mens' retreating figures.

By the time the trio had reached the infirmary, the bell for 5th period had just rung, and Squall murmured something about having less time for his test.

"I'm sure you'll be fine; you seem to always finish first on the exams anyway." Julia piped up, forgetting that this was Squall "Icicle" Leonhart she was speaking to. She was reminded of this fact when, after ushering Zell through the door into the arms of one of Dr. Kadowaki's aides, Squall turned and looked at her with an amused/annoyed look, combined with a frigid glare.

_"Only Squall could pull that one off..."_ Julia mused as she shrunk past the taller man to slip inside the infirmary. She didn't even bother to glance back, but she knew Squall was back to his mumbling; probably about her.

_"That reminds me; I _**have**_ to set that man up with someone who will make him less miserable."_ Julia shook her head free of thoughts pertaining to the stormy man who'd just exited, and instead slipped into her caretaker mode; she had two younger siblings who always seemed to get hurt one way or another when their parents weren't around. Finally getting her first good look at Zell after the whole ordeal, she summed up his injuries with a mental list.

_"Bruising of the cheek, bloody and possibly broken nose, scraped elbows, and a bruised... confidence level."_ She summed up as she slid from the doorway into his room. Zell's wince lessened and he turned it into a half smile as she came up to his bed and slid into the... chair next to it. (muahahaha...ha?)

"How're ya holding up?" Zell shrugged, a decision that he quickly regretted as more pain shot through his neck, his features folding into a pained frown.

_"Add sore neck to the list; man, he looks rough."_ Julia thought to herself, and almost missed his response.

"I've... been in worse. I'll be ok... I think." Zell added the last bit as an afterthought and was consequently softer than the rest of his sentence.

Julia looked at him in concern for a while, remaining silent while Zell had momentarily closed his eyes. When they flew open again, she noticed his whole demeanor had changed; he was sitting up straight with the aid of a lever, and there seemed to be a new light in his eyes. Hatred? Revenge? Anger? She wasn't sure. She almost thought that what she'd seen was a figment of her imagination, because as quickly as it had shown itself, it had faded as Zell seemed to realize he wasn't alone. Her thoughts dashed to panic and her voice changed to take an alarming tone.

"Zell... please don't do anything stupid. Besides, he's only annoying because he has his own self-esteem issues... Don't let him get to you, he'll... go away eventually." Her voice faltered a bit over the pauses, but she managed to finish strong. "Will you tell me what happened?"

He let out a small sigh and turned to face Julia. His face no longer looked angry, and was instead filled with a bit of sadness. She thought it was because of his pride being injured and that he'd have to relate his tale, but he knew that it was because he had not only drawn her into this, but was going to tell her a lie within 2 hours of meeting her.

"Alright... I won't do anything. As for what happened..." Zell spent the next few minutes relating the "adventure" back to her. His tone was tinged with resentment every time Seifer came up, and he was guilt-stricken every time, constantly reminded that he might lose the trust of his new friend because of revenge.

_"But it has to be done... or does it?"_ Zell mused after ending his tale. Maybe he'd be able to control himself next time Seifer crossed his path; maybe.

"Well, the bell is going to ring soon for our next class, we should get going. Are you feeling well enough?" She added after the last line seemed to induce a groan.

"Yea... Let's go." Zell swung his legs out of the bed slowly, grabbing the to-go box of Kleenex on the dresser. Doc had told him that his nose wasn't broken, but could potentially begin to bleed again without warning. After looking around to see if anything of his was left around, he left the room with Julia tailing close behind. When they reached the mid-point for them to split up, Zell slowed down and turned to face Julia. There was a brief moment of awkward silence when he decided to look at his shoes, but as he raised his head, Julia was significantly closer to him; in fact, she was so close that he could smell her apple-scented shampoo wafting from her hair. He then heard whispering in his ear.

"Just... promise me you won't do anything stupid, ok? We still have to go over those grammar terms tomorrow." Retracting from near proximity to his ear, she planted a single kiss on his cheek and winked at him. Too stunned to react, Zell watched hopelessly as she ran off without another word.

E/N: Yeeee. Still too damn short. Until next time; review/like/follow!

_Skij Leonhart_


	3. Chapter III: Trust is Good,

A/N: YAY for internet loss: I lost the first bit of this chapter because I didn't save it before the aforementioned problem. In other news, the story should come out to be something less than 10 chapters. Maybe one day I'll have a full length fic...

Without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter III: Trust is Good Only When Expressed

_"Did she really just do that? Am I losing my mind?"_

Zell paused to touch his hand to his cheek. _"Maybe not..."_

Zell was jolted out of his stupor by the end of class bell, giving him 5 minutes to reach his locker towards the entrance of the school, then sprint back across campus close to his current location. He had made it about halfway back to class when he caught a glance of his former partner-in-crime looking at him from the entryway of a classroom. After realizing she had caught his eye, she darted into the class, leaving Zell staring again as the bell rang; this one marking him late for class.

As the blond-haired attempted to slip inside the classroom unnoticed, his efforts fell to shambles with a tap of his knee into the broken desk by the door. Ironic, because Zell himself had broken that desk during a fight with Seifer in this very classroom.

_"Seifer... He won't get the best of me this time."_ Zell narrowed his eyes at Seifer as he walked by him; the classes eyes were still on him, much to the teacher's chagrin.

"And why, Mr. Dincht, are you late?" The teacher inquired calmly, her frown turning into an angry scowl as Zell slipped his note onto her desk without even looking at her; the two blondes never breaking their gaze.

"Because this _moron_ here decided to give me a bloody nose." Zell replied without even looking back. Seifer sneered at Zell, flicking his hands in a "come at me" motion. Zell's demeanor shifted to anger, and right before launching himself at Seifer, his mind flashed him an image of Julia and the promise he made to her.

A low, enraged growl came from Zell's mouth and he pretended to jump at Seifer, only to fall short jump backwards with his left foot. The motion scared Seifer, who didn't think that Zell would even think about assaulting him in a classroom again, and his face showed a brief glance of fear and surprise, which melted back to his smug demeanor as soon as he realized there was no imminent threat. Zell noticed the retreating motion and smirked, almost in laughter as he made his way to his seat. Seifer's attitude shifted negatively after breaking eye contact, and he slammed his fist onto the desk. The teacher sighed and resumed her lesson; not before mumbling something about "children these days."

Zell had managed to squeeze through the rest of his 3 classes without incident, and it was time for sports, or 9th period on the schedule. Since it was the beginning of the spring trimester, he wasn't able to take boxing at school anymore, much to his disappointment. Instead, he made it part of his daily regiment to stop by the weight room until 3, and then have a choice to either go home and finish some lame project that was due, or go into the adjacent wrestling room and shadow box. If a lot was on his mind, Zell had the potential to either shadowbox or hit the padded walls late into the night until the janitors came to clean the wrestling room last. Today, though, he had to meet Julia at 3:30 and time was of the essence; but he couldn't go into their tutorial with a chip on his shoulder, could he?

Zell finally decided on having a quick session of 15 minutes, planning to shower by 3:20 and head over to the library to be a little early.

_"Left hook, right jab, twice, left jab, fake right hook into elbow, shove off, lead jab into right snap kick, recover, roundhouse into a ki-"_ Zell fell short of his last kick because of a slippery spot on the floor from him dripping a combination of sweat and water all over the floor. He self-disciplined with twenty pushups, and on his way up he saw Julia standing in the doorway. His confusion quickly turned to alarm as he ran over to the window to look through into the weight room. The LED clock on the wall read **3:35**.

"Shit, I uh, kind of lost track of time." Zell turned and hung his head a bit, scratching the back of his neck idly.

"Oh, it's alright. I enjoyed watching you; you're pretty good at it." Julia's voice was soft but clear and it carried across the empty mini-gym.

"You were uhh, watching me? Heh... I was good, eh?" The last sentence was more to himself, but Julia caught it and smiled a little.

"Yeah... just, come tomorrow on time, ok?" Julia started to walk off when Zell yelled after her.

"Hey, if you were going to be here until four, do you mind waiting in the library for me while I shower? Maybe we could just, talk or something." Zell's hopeful tone wasn't missed, and Julia turned around in the doorway.

"Sure; why not?"

Zell slipped into the showers at about the time everyone else headed out to sports, so thankfully for him it was empty as his thoughts repeatedly strayed to Julia. After making it through the shower unnoticed, he got dressed and made his way across campus to the library; his watch read **3:50** as he strolled into the "talking" side where people were supposed to "group study" but it always digressed into idle chit-chat. He found Julia waiting with her feet propped up on the table, her face buried in her phone texting. Zell neglected to tell Julia that he had a perfect view down her skirt and instead, after pausing for a bit, walked next to her and put his hand between her face and the phone. She nearly fell over backwards, Zell barely catching her chair as her legs flew down off the table. After stabilizing herself, she realized what view she had given Zell, but neither knew that the other knew about her recent slip-up; Zell assumed she was blushing from embarrassingly and gracefully falling with her chair.

_"Damn... Why did I choose today to not wear Nike shorts!?" _She thought angrily. Calming herself, she put on a weak smile.

"Hey." Julia finally managed with as much dignity as she had left.

"Hey yourself. It's not everyday I get to save a girl as pretty as you from crashing into the floor, you know. Stuff like this lightens up my day." Zell joked, then gave her a wink which she thought to mean about her skirt. Her face turned from embarrased to laughing to neutral to almost angry- she hated perverts, and she thought Zell wasn't that kind of guy.

_"Then again, I've only known him for a day..."_

"No response to my _profound_ words?" He dragged out the profound as if it were a police spike strip; it popped Julia out of her thought process.

"I'm, uh, flattered?" Julia managed, still processing if he had even looked down her skirt in the first place.

"Yea, that's better." Zell rolled his eyes and took the seat next to her, propping his feet up on the table and clasping his hands behind his head. From where they were sitting, they could look out of the window and see all the way to Balamb Beach from there.

"What a view, eh?" Zell mused, more to himself more than anyone but Julia looked over and saw the way he was sitting and assumed something else.

"So you _did_ look down my skirt, did you?" She spat, a little louder than she intended to. A couple diligently studying students looked up in confusion, then back at their work. Most were too deep into conversation or had their headphones up a little too loud to even hear or care, but one particular patron of the library sent chills down her spine- the stormy man himself, Squall Leonhart. Surprisingly, he had his earphones resting on the table and his expression was something of curiosity combined with disgust, and then he shook his head and looked back down at some complicated senior level math textbook. Shivering, she turned back to Zell to see him looking down at the floor between them.

"I.. uh, kind of looked, but I didn't mean to stare or anything, I just..." He looked back up and shrugged his shoulders. "You _were_ sitting with your feet up like that in the first place, though." Frowning, Julia quickly snapped her head away from her phone towards Zell.

"So you think I'm a _slut_ or something?" This time, closer to half the patrons of the library looked over at her, and she threw her hands up in frustration, tempted to scream "What are you lookin' at?" The students looked away again, some muttering about her and others resuming their conversations as if it hadn't happened. Again, Squall was one of the last to look away and had that same curio-gusted look on his face.

"Ughhhhh. All guys are the damn same. I'm done. Just... meet me here for grammar tomorrow and that's it." She angrily picked up her things and threw them in her backpack. Slinging it onto her shoulder, she softened her tone a bit as she was walking past him. At a tone barely above a whisper, the words "I thought you were different" slipped into Zell's brain through his ear canals.

"But I am..." He hopelessly replied, long after she was gone.

E/N: I'm keeping the chapters short and sweet so that they stay on one-scene at a time, maximum two. I wanted to put some of the stuff that will be in chapter 4 here, but if I keep my chapters "mini" and around 2k words I think my chapter projection should be right on the money.

Anyways, like/REVIEW/follow, and as always,

Until next time,

_Skij Leonhart_


	4. Chapter IV: But Only When Expressed

A/N: This is a high school with both the dorm option and going home option- similar to a boarding school. The difficulty ranges between public and boarding, which is what allows Zell to just blow off homework and just do it in a study hall or the period before.

I hope Zell isn't OOC at all- I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping him in character with what I feel his reaction to this kind of situation would be. Zell getting picked on by Seifer because of his size also strikes me as something that might happen if they were in a real school. I don't remember the relative height difference from the game, but since this is mid-high school years, and if Zell is indeed taller, you can just put your mind at ease and say he grew a bunch over the next few summers.

Two more things: One, the whole blade thing of Seifer and Squall is yet to be decided- I might forgo it all-together or make them use katanas or something. Two, I'm quite saddened that there are no reviews yet, but a decent amount of different-computer traffic. Please! Review! It'll make me happy and then you get more writing, and if it's constructive, you'll get **better** stories! Who doesn't want that?

Anywho, without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter IV: But Only When Expressed

Zell slowly got up from the chair he'd slunk into- it had been a good fifteen minutes since Julia had stormed out, and he decided to make his way over to the gym again before heading down to the dorms; tonight there would be no homework done. Rounding one of the walls that surrounded the talking half of the library, Zell nearly tripped and face-planted while walking over a sleeping figure sitting on the ground, back up against the wall and bag on his left. His face was blocked by a blue and white baseball cap, with the logo of the "Oklahoma City Thunder" emblazoned across the bill. As Zell recovered from catching himself with his arms, the figure stood up and moved his cap away from his eyes, taking off a pair of sunglasses (Zell assumed they were used to help him fall asleep) revealing that the face was Irvine, Seifer's buddy from earlier in the day. Zell immediately slipped off his backpack and assumed his fighting stance, to which Irvine showed no response of hostility.

"Whoa there, relax now. I've no trouble with you." Irvine's hands moved up to show surrender; Zell's hands dropped lower but his eyes remained leery.

"Then why were you hanging out with Egotistical Ass-wad earlier?" Irvine smirked; Zell's choice of curse words would have possibly gotten him beat up back at Irvine's old school, but he chose not to comment. Sighing, he explained himself.

"I was simply with him because... well I have no one else to hang out with. It's been, what, three or four months of school and yet I've found no group to hang with. That, and everyone who fights seems to be a bunch of softies around here." Zell seemed to bristle like a cat, springing back up into a fighting position.

"What'd you say?! Lets go, right here." Irvine just laughed and shook his head again.

"Not today, good fella. But trust me, we can spar if you'd like. Perhaps tomorrow, after school. At least... after the lesson with that pretty girlfriend of yours."

Zell's stance dissolved into a folded-arms, eyes-squinted, defensive position. "She's not my girlfriend."

Irvine's smile grew bigger. "Then you wouldn't have any problems with me, _talking_ to her a bit, hmm?"

"Hey! I do have a problem with that." Zell frowned and looked down to his right, avoiding Irvine's jaw-breaking smile.

"Well, you just proved my point." Irvine waited for a reaction as Zell looked back, confused. The confusion melded with a scowl as he assumed the previous position, this time more pissed off.

_"So what if I like her."_

_"Maybe you should have gone after her."_

_"She was already too angry, I might have pissed her off more."_

_"Are you sure she'll even come back tomorrow?_

Zell's frustration mounted to an audible snarl, causing Irvine's jolly expression to turn to one of worry.

"Maybe we should spar tonight... You live in the dorms, right?"

"Yea." Irvine's grin seemed to grow larger than all of the previous combined.

"Well, lets go to the gym!"

Julia's mind was hyperactive; it seemed like her thoughts had gone to an energy drink company conference without her, and were itching to escape, bouncing around in her head. Trying to fold her clothes seemed like an epic task.

_"Why did I kiss him? Now he'll think I'm leading him on... Am I leading him on? __**(He looked up my skirt!)**__ I tried to leave him quickly when we were in the library, maybe that was enough? But he strikes me as the persistent type... Well, at least its not in a bad way. Or is it? __**(He looked UP MY SKIRT!)**__ Damn it, why did I kiss him? Maybe... I wanted to lead him on? __**(He didn't mean to though, right? I mean... who wouldn't look?)**__ But... just one day? Come on Julia, you need more time than that to make sure he won't snap your heart in two. __**(Oh, who are you kidding Julia; all men are perverts.)**__"_

Her thoughts cut off abruptly as she turned to look at her door opening. A tall figure stood in the doorway, cloaked in the shadows.

"Dad? It's kind of late for you to be in my room..."

The figure took another step towards her and her lamplight splashed across his face, revealing her older brother Ryan.

"Ryan!" Julia nearly swept her basket of clean clothes off the bed to rush to hug her brother, who wasn't due back from college for a week for their "winter" break.

"Hey there, lil' sis. It's been too long, hasn't it? How are things?" Ryan inquired light-heartedly. Before she could respond he added, "Any boyfriends whose asses I have to kick?" He meant it as a joke, as his "little" sister was still too young in his opinion. Where he had gone to school was a lot less sheltered than at Garden, and when she responded with a meek "Well...", he held her in-front of him by her shoulders and looked at her as her eyes were drawn to her feet as if by a magnet.

"Look at me." The tone was not at all loud, but it was spoken with a commanding force that compelled Julia to look up to meet her brother's piercing blue eyes, a slight fear reflected in hers. She wasn't used to Ryan being _this _over-protective; especially with a guy he hadn't even heard about. _"__Maybe the months away have changed him,"_ Julia mused.

"Tell me about him. I need to know if I have to seriously go kick some ass or not." Ryan tried to jest, but Julia turned away and went to go sit on her bed. Ryan contemplated sitting next to her, but chose to sit in her desk chair, which was quite comfortable as well. As he swiveled around to face her, Julia began again.

"Well... he's not actually my boyfriend." This came off even worse to Ryan, as he had assumed the worst and thought she'd gone and done something stupid with someone she wasn't actually in relations with.

"What did you do, **Julia**?" The accusatory tone was strong in his voice, and panic flashed across Julia's face.

"What? I- no, damn it, **Ryan**, I didn't do anything. Just sit there and listen for once." The similar, mocking tone shut him up; he hadn't remembered his baby sister being so demanding before.

"Like I said... He's not my boyfriend and I don't even know if he likes me back. I just know what I've seen, and I like certain qualities and the way he carries himself and that he's a nice guy... but you know, all guys are freaking perverts!" She finished with a huff, putting a smile onto her older brother's face.

"Well of course... you can't blame guys for being naturally attracted to women. If they're straight that is... but that's besides the point." Ryan scratched his head, trying to come off less aggressive than before. "You said... all guys are perverts... did he-"

"No, Ryan. I... thanks for trying. But no, I..." Her voice faltered. She was going to admit this to her over-protective brother who would probably contradict his earlier saying and go beat Zell down? A sigh breached her lips before she could even think about it. "I was in the library, reading and I kicked my feet up on the table... he came by because I was supposed to meet him there to help him with his English and... I caught him staring up my skirt." She finished softly, afraid to look up to see her brother's reaction. When she finally did, however, a slight smile and no traces of anger were present.

"You're... not going to go kill him?" She asked tentatively, still confused with her brother's reaction.

"Of course not, silly. Hell, I don't even know his name to go looking." He smirked, merely inciting Julia to roll her eyes.

"His name's Zell. I... don't even know his last name." She again looked down, a slight tinge of red contrasting to her paler face tone.

"Hey, it's alright. How long have you known him?" She thought quickly how long she could come up with to justify the amount of obsession she was showing when her brother held her chin gently and forced her to look him in the eye.

"Don't lie to me now. What, a week, two? Maybe a month?"

Julia's first response was inaudibly quiet, and Ryan wasn't very proficient in reading lips.

"Speak up, please, Julia."

"A day." A shocked look crossed her brother's face, and as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

"My, my. He's seemed to imprint quite the impression on you, my dear sister." He let go of her chin and leaned back in the chair, swiveling to kick his feet up on her desk and see her in the mirror she had above the work space.

"Do you remember the first boyfriend I had to scare away, since Mom wasn't able to?"

A smile graced Julia's features; the memories were quite fond.

"Yes... I didn't even like him that much, but somehow he pressured me into going to that stupid dance I didn't even want to go to. When was that, eighth grade?"

"I think so... It was your first dance. Were you nervous?"

Julia merely nodded, her memories and thoughts melding in her consciousness.

"Did you... enjoy it? You never told me how it went, and I always wondered."

"Why'd you never ask? I wanted to tell you but I never really got around to bringing it up."

Ryan thought about that for a second.

"I guess for the same reasons... Why, did something specific happen?"

"We, uh... kissed."

Ryan's eyebrows shot up, and he turned in the chair to face his sister again.

"Huh. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't tell me at the time... His family might still be grieving." With the last words Julia's entire demeanor visibly changed; the lighthearted mood turned far south as she moved to sit farther back against the wall, her head hung.

"Shit... I'm sorry. I know, I miss him too..." Ryan ran out of words as he walked to sit next to his sister who was now on the verge of tears.

"Do you think... he wonders what goes through my head sometimes when I do stuff like that? You know, the over-protective gene that the men of this family seem to share..?" Her attempt at humor fell through quickly, and salty rivulets of tears started to stream down her face.

"Yes, but I think he trusts your judgement a lot more than I do, and for that I'm... sorry. You know what I know for sure, though?"

Julia sniffled and looked at her older brother sitting next to her. He had changed a bit, his face growing hardened and his body a bit more sculpted from working out, she presumed. But one thing had never changed for as long as she had known him- his eyes. They were a light, sky blue, and only changed with strong, emotional fluxes. She'd never noticed it before, but now she realized why he hid his face from her when they had talked about their father's passing. She had thought it was because of him hiding tears, but it was more than that. She didn't want to see the turbulence of emotion apparent in the windows to his soul, the two color-changing irises. When he was angry for example, they would change to a deep, dark navy color, but when he was sad... well, they would vary from purple to green to any shade of blue. She had always thought different of her brother, but now she saw his eyes and knew that there was a lot more to this man then she knew before- hell, than she could truly understand before.

"I know that we both love you, and maybe me more than him, if that's even possible. And that's the reason why I act like I do, and I hope you'll see that when Luke and Taylor get older... that you'll protect them more than you can even comprehend is feasible, or even possible." His breath hitched on the last few words, and he cleared his throat before moving on. "For now... just appreciate the time you spend with each and every one of your family members, especially Mom. She needs help from you to be the strongest here, especially when I'm gone. I know it's a lot of burden, but I know you can handle it, sis. I know you're strong enough... ok?"

Julia looked down at her toes that were hanging off of the side of her bed (they were laid down width wise of the bed and up against the wall) and then finally gave in to her exhaustion and peeled her brother's arm off of her, putting her head down onto her pillow; partially from the day and partially from the emotional anvil that seemed to be weighing her down these days. Her brother was a welcome respite, no matter how over-protective he could get.

"...Alright. Mom said you'd be around more, is that true?" A smile finally broke the gripping sadness in the room, no matter how small it was. Ryan nodded and spoke, "Yea, I'm gonna be around here on the weekends and whenever I can besides then, to help out and all."

Julia smiled; maybe he would be able to meet Zell. _"__Wait what, why am I thinking like _that_?"_

Ryan brushed the hair from her face as he stood up, tucking her in as if she were younger than 10 years old, and not in the 10th grade.

"I'll see you tomorrow, maybe even make breakfast before you go to school. I'm a morning person now; you wouldn't believe it." He smiled for one last time before he left the room. On his way out and before clicking the lamp, he turned to look at his little sister, who wasn't quite so little anymore.

"Goodnight, Julia."

"Night, Ryan."

E/N: Yay another chapter done. This was much more filler-y, but I'll get more action next chapter, I promise. Plus, I felt some background on how Julia's family structure goes would be nice, considering we know about Zell already from the game. This is also my longest chapter to date, so yay! Hopefully I can keep all of the chapters at around this length or longer, but... no promises!

Also, if you don't see any story parallels now, you should kind of soon as I'll point them out eventually! (only if you've played FF8 could you really pick it up, unless you're a really good guesser.)

Thanks again- review/comment/favorite/like/PM and all the good stuff, please!

Until next time,

_Skij Leonhart_


	5. Chapter V: What Goes Up Must Come Down

A/N: Just to be clear; I was re-reading the story for the umpteenth time and I think I ought to lay out Julia's personality more clearly. She's a bit impulsive and headstrong, but remains a strong, caring figure for her friends and her family. She only truly shows her "weaker", dependent side to her older brother, and later possibly Zell. Her quick mood changes are attributed to the impulsive behavior, and prove that she's not truly as independent as she thinks.

ALSO: If you guys were confused about the scheduling, here's an ideal schedule-

Homeroom/advisory: 745-752

1stper- 755-840

2ndper- 845-930

3rdper- 935-1020

4thper- 1025-1110

LUNCH- 1110-1210

5thper- 1215-100

6thper- 105-150

7thper- 155-235

8thper- 240-325

9th- is either for orchestra or band or a choral group, sometimes sports groups use this time as well (personally I go work out, what Zell does + his trademark shadowboxing)- 330-415

"sports period" from 430-630 or later is when sports go, depending on the sport.

Yay! So that was long and spacey, but hopefully you guys are still reading after that. I thought it'd be nice to have a timeframe in mind. I like structure, if you couldn't tell by now.

Speaking of timeframe, my earlier projection of 8-10 chapters is unraveling by the second... So yay? More reading for you guys, anyways.

**Sorry! I've been working a lot recently, and haven't had too much time to write/less motivation, but that's over now! Better get to writing.

Without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter V: What Goes Up Must Come Down...

"Whoa there, buddy. That's a lot of-" Irvine was cut short by a particularly fast left jab, tagging him in the top-right of his ribcage. Zell paused for a moment to let him catch his breath, and as he stood he straightened his hair back behind him into a ponytail. Exhaling slowly, he finished his previous sentence.

"Pent-up aggression, Zell. Maybe you should try this more often."

Zell merely nodded in agreement, then resumed his offensive. Irvine was content to sit there blocking and dodging most of his punches. Zell was quick, he gave him that, but his size left him at a disadvantage in the power department. Irvine then thought of something his late father had once told him. Signaling Zell to take a breather, Irvine walked over to the fountain and took a few sips, finishing and allowing Zell to begin gulping down water as if it were air. Irvine stood up near the water fountain, one foot flat against the wall, waiting for his new friend to finish. After Zell sighed contentedly and took a seat on the mat, Irvine began his story.

"Are you perchance... an orphan, Zell?" The question caught the blond man off guard, and his frown softened a bit as he shook his head no. Before Irvine could continue, Zell added, "But... My father died when I was extremely young... I barely remember him."

Irvine looked up from his position against the wall, a neutral expression across his face. "Well, maybe you'll relate a bit to this then."

A sigh slipped from Irvine's mouth before he could begin, and he slid to the ground, one knee pressed up against his chest and the other leg outstretched.

"My dad was... well, I stopped seeing him around after I was about 9. My mom was barely around, always coming in late and leaving early to do jobs that she never told me about, and I was making the 5 mile trek to school alone, as the school bus never came around my neighborhood. At first, I thought he'd gone on another trip, but as the months turned into years I started piecing together that he was gone, probably murdered, and my mom _seemed_ to not care. That's how my eyes saw it, and I thought I was alone in the world." Another sigh exited his lips. "That was the start of how I became a loner in the first place... but that's another story for another time." It felt weird talking a lot; usually, the few groups that he was cool with ended up talking and he was listening, inputting a word here and there. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he pushed forward.  
"When I was about 8... I came home with a black eye and I tried to hide it by putting mud all over my face, as a sort of make-up technique... ha." They shared a chuckle, and Irvine felt a renewed strength that encouraged him to go on. "Of course, my dad saw right through it as I normally didn't like to stay dirty, but I hadn't removed the mud for an hour of staying at the house. He had me wash my face,and then held my chin as he examined my face." Irvine frowned as he tried to remember the details- it was the first time he had really told someone the full story. "My dad sent me to my room, and I heard yelling between my parents... the start to many an occasion filled with that. Finally, he came to my room, a little red-faced, and ushered me outside." Irvine looked up at Zell, who was now laying down on the mats with his hands crossed behind his head. Zell looked over and nodded, again prompting a sigh from Irvine.

"At first, naturally, I was a bit scared. But as he started to lecture me, I realized he was actually going to show me _how_ to fight instead of punishing me for something that I hadn't even started. I never even had to explain myself to him... but in that week he taught me more than school or YouTube videos ever could." Irvine, while looking at his shoe, heard Zell shifting and he knew he had his attention. "You're quite good... but he taught me something in particular that might help you against Seifer; to make each punch count."

Zell looked dumbstruck; he thought he already did that; what more could he add?

"Come, stand up." Zell snapped to his feet, bouncing from foot to foot as Irvine pushed off the wall to stand in front of the shorter, blond man. "Throw your hardest punch at me; preferably land it in an arm or the torso or something." Zell frowned at the request, but obliged, and slammed his fist into Irvine's left arm, pushing him slightly off balance. After taking one step to stabilize, he nodded approvingly and cracked his knuckles. "Alright. I've seen you punch all night, so I'm going to throw something at you that's exactly similar to what you've been throwing. Where do you want it?" Zell's face was a mixture of confusion, horror, and amusement all at once. Irvine frowned and added, "The imitation thing is something that takes more time... it took me a year but depending on how fast you figure this out, I could probably teach it to you in a few weeks." Zell's face seemed to lose the previous aspects, and now retained extreme focus.

"Well... I guess you can aim for my face." Irvine's eyes widened, and then narrowed just as quickly.

"Why the hell would I do tha-" Zell put up a hand to silence him.

"It's where Seifer will be aiming."

The brunette's eyebrows rose a bit, then Irvine rolled his shoulders back and got into stance.

"Here I come." was all the warning Zell got, and Irvine's leather-gloved hand impacted his face with that less of Seifer's, but it still stung a bit. Staggering a few steps, Zell recovered quickly and came back to stand in front of Irvine, who seemed impressed.

"That doesn't hurt, even a little bit?"

Zell shook his head; his jaw had taken a lot more punishment than that in weekend classes and from his taller, platinum blond nemesis. Irvine looked surprised; his new friend was more resilient than he thought.

"Ok. To preserve your face a bit, I'm going to go left handed this time, but this will be how I've learned. Afterwards, I'll teach you."

_"If he's still standing..."_ Irvine added as an afterthought. He wasn't cocky about much, but he knew this might catch the smaller man off guard.

This time, Zell barely had time to mentally prepare himself as Irvine only nodded, and then the impact struck him before he saw his fist move, and he fell to the ground, his jaw throbbing as his eyes tried to figure out what to focus on. Irvine rushed over to his friend to be pushed away as the brunette outstretched a hand to help. This truly surprised Irvine as Zell managed to get up after a minute or so, completely of his own accord.

"You good?" Zell rubbed his jaw a little bit, still wondering why he hadn't seen it coming, even when Irvine _said_ he was going to punch him.

"Yea... how?" Irvine laughed a little bit, then started to explain. It was a relatively simple technique that took very little time to master, but so many people overlooked it. Instead of merely punching with your arm, which had whatever swinging force you brought with it, you twisted with your hips, driving into each punch. Mastery of this came of how quickly you could deliver each one, and how much drive you could put behind each elbow and fist.

"Huh... that's neat." Zell remarked, trying it out on one of the more padded walls in the room. Turning around, Zell looked back at his newly acquired training partner and friend.

"Thanks, Irvine. And about doing this more often... how often are you available?"

A smile found its way onto Irvine's face; he didn't have to be a loner anymore.

***** ^(all of which occurred when Julia was talking with her brother) (below is next morning school)

"Alright class, before you leave, everyone turn in your reflection papers in a neat stack here, please." Instructor Trepe patiently waited for all of her students to turn in their stacks, some thicker than others. As everyone was leaving, she noticed Zell still sitting down, his paper (a rather thin stack) still on his desk, and his eyes glued to his lap with a smile on his face.

"Do I _want _to know why you're smiling at your lap, Mr. Dincht? At the sound of his name, Zell's smile evaporated and his head shot up to look at the instructor, then his eyes filled with panic as he looked around the room to find no one there.

"Did the... uh, bell ring yet?" Instructor Trepe nodded her head with a smile as Zell hastily slipped his phone into his pocket and slipped his backpack on, grabbing the unstapled stack of papers and shoving them into her hands.

"Thanks!" He yelled over his shoulder as he ran out of the room, nearly tripping on the door stop that was haphazardly placed in the middle of the path.

Quistis merely sighed and went to staple the papers together before putting them on top of the pile. As she sat down and pulled out her red pen to begin grading, some mumbling escaped her lips, albeit quietly.

"Kids these days... oh, who am I kidding, that was me only a few years ago... Do I miss that?" Slipping Zell's paper off of the top and leafing through it to check the minimum page length, she flipped it back to the front and gave it a check for the required length of 7 pages.

"Nope. Not one, small, tiny bit." A smile crossed her face as she read Zell's title; _Girls- Does Anyone Understand Them?_

The bell was ringing to signal the end of 9th period and Zell was already waiting in the assigned spot with a few grammar worksheets out, ready to discuss the topics with his tutor. To his dismay, Julia seemed to be nowhere in sight as the time stretched to 3:35, then to 3:40, and finally to 3:45. He shrugged his shoulders and stood to leave when he felt two hands on his shoulders, pushing him back down into the chair forcefully.

"Hey there, lover-boy." Zell's instant reaction was to try to turn around, but Seifer had him pinned down with one foot on a bar near the bottom of the chair, and his forearms on Zell's shoulders, now whispering in his ear.

"Looks like she didn't show up today; what a shame. Maybe she moved on to another guy already; you know her type." Zell shoved harder up against Seifer, but still couldn't manage to budge. Through gritted teeth, the pinned down blond managed to eek out a few words.

"And what type is that, ass-wad?" Seifer smirked, then let up on Zell who immediately stood up and spun around to face the taller man, who had taken a few steps back.

"A slut." Zell's face contorted with rage and he threw himself at the taller man, who was surprised at first but focused, and within thirty seconds, Seifer had the fight in his control. Distancing himself with continuous sidesteps, Seifer waited until he had a clear shot at Zell's head and swung, landing a perfect hit to his temple, sending Zell to the floor. Dusting his hands in a symbolic fashion, Seifer started to walk away when he heard Zell groaning, then a chair falling over as Zell stood up, leaving Seifer shocked as he turned around.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Zell threw himself at Seifer again, who was ready this time, and sidestepped once, shoving Zell's shoulder with one hand and delivering a quick snap kick to Zell's stomach, doubling him over. Coughing on the floor, he rose his head just enough to see Julia standing near the entrance of the library, looking on with concern. Shaking his head, Zell stood up for the second time, but Seifer was ready. Not wanting to take any chances, Seifer kneed Zell in the face before he could even stand up, then knelt on one knee to punch the smaller man in the face once before walking away, laughing.

_"What a maniacal bastard..."_ crossed through Zell's thoughts before spots started to appear across his vision; the adrenaline was wearing off.

"I should have been here; I'm so sorry, Zell..." He blinked to clear his vision to see Julia kneeling beside him, another figure with a cap on standing above her.

"Just go to sleep; we'll get you to the infirmary." A deeper voice commented, and he obliged, forgetting all about everything except for the part where his nose really _really_ hurt.

E/N: Sorry I'm all over the place! This chapter is quite messy, but necessary for me to get parts of the plot moving, so... deal with it? Ha. No, but really tell me what exactly you don't like about it (or like?) in a review or PM; I promise next chapter will be cleaned up much better than this.

Thanks for waiting!

Until next time,

_Skij Leonhart_


	6. Chapter VI: Unless It's Stuck In a Tree

A/N: Again, work strikes- I know that I'm frustrated since I'm not putting these out as fast as I would like.

I also won't publish something unless I think it's of my standard, so no worries. Also, I've seen other authors take forever to put out stuff that I've been wanting to read, so I don't feel _too_ bad about the slight delays I have... but meh.

This chapter, Julia is embracing the more Rinoa-esque side of her personality and that's who I based her attitude off of. Just... btw.

Also; chapter titles must look quite strange, and as of 8/5/13 they're quite random, but they're little tidbits of information that will (hopefully) come together at the end of this story... yea. Anyways, this chapter _should_ get the plot-ball rolling.

But you know me. Or... do you?

Without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter VI: Unless It's Stuck In a Tree

"Zell, are you awake?" A melodic voice wafted into Zell's consciousness.

"Unhhhhh." Sounds of laughter, some deep and some higher pitched pushed Zell to open his eyes to see Irvine and Julia standing in the room; Irvine in his trademarked position up against the wall, and Julia leaning against his bedside rail.

"They had to take you to the hospital; apparently your nose was broken and a cut on your forehead required a few stitches." The reminder of the fight caused Zell's confused mood to shape into one of anger, and he slammed his fist against the guardrail opposite of Julia. The blond girl jumped, but Irvine merely shook his head, seeing the look of anger fade to pain.

"Yea. Also, you broke your left fifth finger, so slamming your hands around like that isn't a good idea." Zell's eyes narrowed on his hand, which had his pinky wrapped in sports tape with a splint. Finally, he looked over to Julia and sighed, which Irvine took as his queue to go.

"It's nice to see you awake, buddy. I'll see you tomorrow at school." Zell took the moment to close his eyes for a moment, and Irvine took that opportunity to wink at Julia. She rolled her eyes and shooed Irvine out of the room, smiling a bit. As the door closed, her smile faded instantly and she walked over to the bruised man in bed.

"I _thought_ I told you not to do anything _stupid_!" Julia semi-yelled, shaking Zell by the shoulders, jolting him out of his half-stupor.

"He called y-..." Zell paused; even in his recently awoken state, he knew saying that would only cause her to blame herself. He continued, albeit less vehemently.

"Yea, I know." Julia stopped shaking him- he fought to defend... her? Zell merely shook his head.

_"I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Dammit." _Zell cleared his throat. "He... uh, approached me in the library because I guess he saw me sitting there for a while. I, uh, got there a few minutes early." Zell lied and planned to end there, but the look on Julia's face told him she wanted more.

"He, uh... called you..." Zell faded off, looking at his toes down the bed.

"Hey! Look at me!" The sudden outburst of voice shocked him to look at the girl standing next to him; just a few minutes ago, she was laughing at his sleep-filled speech. Now, her face was full of rage; some directed towards Zell, more aimed at Seifer.

"What... what did he call me?" The anger ebbed a bit, but enough to have Zell swallow a bit before speaking.

"A... uh..." Julia wasn't having any of it.

"**What did he call me!?"** Now she was yelling full-force, and Zell's next two words were an answer, but not the one she wanted to hear.

"A... slut." Shocked, not by Seifer's attitude but more of the exact word choice, considering she had jokingly called herself that just yesterday. Her next words came out as a whisper, a huge contrast to a few seconds ago.

"Do you... do you believe him?" Zell didn't answer for a little bit, and she interpreted this as agreement, and she dropped his hand that she didn't know she was holding. Disgusted with herself and subsequently with Zell, she huffed and started to storm out of the room.

"Wait!" It was enough to get her to stop, but not turn around.

"Of course I don't believe him. My only concern is... if you do." Julia spun on her heel, and he expected to see anger glaring daggers at him, but instead he received a deeply saddened look; one of finding someone who just might understand you.

"I want you to never believe that... and even if you do... know that I don't believe him. And... I never will." Zell inwardly winced at how sappy he sounded, but he hoped the words would get through.

_"Geez, remind me to ask one of the nurses what kind of meds I'm on."_

"You really believe that, Zell? You... you hardly know me and you're... already getting into fights on my behalf." Zell's sharp laugh was short and terse; it was more of a scoff than anything.

"I would have gotten into that fight anyway with Seifer there... but, I dunno. I... feel something... for you. I don't know if you, uh, feel the same or not, or even what I'm feeling... maybe it'll become clearer soon." Julia's face tinged a bit pink with his admission, and she turned her head back towards the door.

"I felt the need to... protect you; not in the, uh, helpless-protection sense, but more of a, uh, honor-kind of sense, ya know? And I, uh, I mean, maybe we could... I dunno. Maybe start by... getting to know each other better? You did say we haven't known each other long..." Zell trailed off, looking up to see Julia looking at him with a smile but her eyes full of what he thought was doubt- it was simply disbelief that he returned her feelings that she thought were absurd.

"Sure, Zell. But... for now, can you scoot over?" Zell frowned- that wasn't the response he was expecting to hear, but he obliged anyway. She then slipped off her shoes as she climbed into the hospital bed next to him, Zell lifting the covers to allow her access next to him.

_"Weird," _Zell thought as they lay next to each other, both staring at the ceiling. _"But something I can get used to... pretty quickly."_

"Hey, Zell?" Julia's voice cut through his thoughts, and he turned his head to look at her.

"You think we could... not go to school tomorrow?" Zell's eyebrow raised at this; he wasn't too sure at what she was implying. Her face turned red when she realized what she could be suggesting.

"Oh, no, I... uh..." Zell merely grinned as she stumbled onwards. "I was thinking we could do some of your English work that we've been missing out on... and tomorrow's only a half day, remember?" Zell nodded at this, realizing that he could lay here forever with this girl that he barely knew, yet he felt that they understood each other quite well. Another smile crossed his face.

"Why not?" Julia smiled and turned over to his side, holding her arms in-front of her and burying her face in his side. Julia's next words came out as a whisper, but Zell could still hear her.

"I could lay here... forever." Zell smiled at this and pulled the rest of the cover over her back, turning over just enough to slide his left arm over her body. She stiffened slightly at his touch and he thought he had made a mistake, but she quickly relaxed and merely leaned into him further. Sighing contentedly, Zell pressed a switch near his bed cutting off the lights and slid his arm back over her. After a minute or so, he spoke up.

"Sweet dreams, Julia." But all he received in response was a deep, rhythmic breathing pattern- she was already asleep.

E/N: Heyo. This chapter is quite short, but I felt it had what it needed to without me making it extremely long + I liked how it ended- less abruptly than the last two.

I hope you like where the story is going, and if you don't understand or don't like it, let me know and I'll chat you about it.

All in all- story is back on track, and action (from what I've seen/been doing) should be at least once every two chapters. (e.g. next chapter)

Until next time,

_Skij Leonhart_


	7. Chapter VII: Courage Is Merely Nothing

A/N: Before I say anything else; thanks to krikanalo for reviewing and reading rather faithfully- I truly appreciate it!

As for the rest of you... *narrows eyes* no but really; I value any kind of feedback, good or bad. Always... ish.

_This_ chapter should get the ball rolling on the plot. I have no idea how many times in the future I'll say that and I apologize for each and every one of them, even if I happen to follow up on it.

And I mapped it out: it SHOULD end in 10 chapters like previously planned! But don't despair- I'm making another sequel series for sure with Zell and Julia as sophomores in college.

And yes, Seifer is just a fight-hungry bastard who wants to pound Zell's face in all the time...

Or is he?

As for Julia and Zell being rather lovey within mere days of knowing each other- some people are just like that and I've decided to make them like that. That's that. That being said, I made it to where they aren't in a full blown relationship already for a reason! Just... wait and see on **that**.

That's enough of that.

No, but really I appreciate the time each and every one of you taking the time to read my writing, let alone making comments or reviews (even though they _are_ nice). Shall we move on?

P.S- Italics are usually thought if they're whole lines, and italics or bold mixed in sentences is a kind of emphasis- italics usually being sarcasm or drawn-out words, bold usually being loud or forceful speech.

And oh my god. My main computer couldn't open a usable web browser for about a week and it's been depressing. But I'm baaaack. So... yea I hope I didn't lose any followers or stuff. That would be super duper sad. Anyways.

Without further ado,

_Skij Leonhart_

Chapter VII: Courage Is Merely Nothing...

After spending a whole day laying in bed, sharing the _(slightly nasty but still edible)_ provided hospital food, which really consisted of Julia eating mostly everything_ (who would have thought such a small girl could eat so damn much?!) _and a lot of questionnaire-ing, Zell was quite tired. He also realized that for the first time in a couple of years, he truly felt at home with someone that wasn't his mother. He always got along with everyone (but Seifer) and could strike up easy conversations with everyone from every social group... but this was the first person since he'd come to GHS with whom he could have meaningful, deep talks with and still laugh and talk about absolutely nothing in the next. It was a strange yet wonderful chapter in his life that he hoped would never end.

A few loud, short raps on the door startled Julia, who was climbing back into the bed after using the restroom. As she was sliding under the covers, Irvine's head poked out from behind the wall as if to say "Surprise!" but instead his own eyes opened wide and he nearly fell over. Righting himself and twisting his cap forwards, he averted his eyes towards the ground as a smile crept across his face.

"If I'm interrupting, I can leave, you know..." Zell merely laughed as Julia blushed and hid her face in Zell's side. Sliding his arm around his 'English tutor', he pointed to the chair near the bed.

"No, please stay. Anything happen at school today?" Irvine laughed as he plopped into the chair, kicking his feet up on a miniature trashcan.

"Well... I decided to visit after I noticed you missing from homeroom and 1st period... I coulda sworn they said you'd be free to leave in a day." Julia tried to hide even deeper into Zell's side.

_"He didn't tell me we could leave! Even still... I liked the time we spent together... I hope he did too."_

"Yea, well the doc said he wanted to make sure I didn't have any reactions to the meds that they prescribed for me, so I stayed the night."

_"So **that's** why he stayed? Not... because he... wanted to?" _Julia felt the arm around her squeeze a bit and her doubts melted away.

_"No... he most certainly wanted to stay with me." _Julia grinned triumphantly, even if only in her mind.

Irvine, on the other hand, thought that was a little too perfect of an excuse with a girl laying in the bed with his friend...

_"And who knows how fully clothed, ha."_ Irvine added in his mind. The brunette looked back up to see Zell looking at him with a strange expression; Irvine just laughed.

"Yea. Right, I believe you..." Zell just shook his head and let his head drop back onto his pillow.

"Any... _important_ reason why you dropped by today, Irvine?" Zell's tone was bordering on annoyance, so Irvine took to his feet and circled to the foot of the bed. As Irvine cleared his throat, Julia turned her head a bit to rest her cheek on Zell's chest, allowing Irvine, to his slight disappointment, to see that she indeed had a shirt on.

"_Imagination is the key..."_ He smiled before continuing out loud.

"Seifer was... uh, suspended for two weeks. Out of school... and he's pretty pissed about it. I talked to him via text about it and he's happy it's not ISS but he's looking for you and Julia." He turned his head to look at the blond girl and added, "He thinks that, and I quote, 'Zell's little girlfriend' helped get him suspended."

Julia looked dumbfounded; she didn't like Seifer even before she had met Zell, and she liked him even less now... but intentionally getting him suspended?

"But... what? I..." Irvine shook his head and rose a hand to cut her off.

"Either way, the headmaster thinks it safer for you to stay in the dorms for the two weeks- there's only one problem. Well... now that I see you two here it shouldn't actually be that much of a problem... maybe more for your parents... eh, but-" Zell sighed exasperatedly, stopping Irvine's rambling.

"Can you get to the point?" Irvine nodded.

"They only found one open room- they're using the rest for the exchange students... and it's the joint room recently vacated by your old roomate, Zell."

Irvine grinned at them both, causing Julia to blush and look away and Zell to shake his head and point at the door.

"Alright, alright, I'll go. Just giving you guys a heads up." Irvine tipped his baseball cap in farewell and left the room swiftly; the echo of the door closing permeating the charged silence. Zell turned to look at Julia, who sheepishly looked up from his chest in return.

"So moving in comes before a first date; no biggie." Julia sat up and laughed as Zell scratched his head with his free hand, the other still around Julia's shoulders.

"Unless you call bad hospital food and mediocre pound cake from Krogers a first date, then yeah..." Julia trailed off as she realized the gravity of what Zell had just said.

"Wait, what? I thought... I'm confused." Julia frowned at Zell- weren't they only supposed to get to know each other first?

_"Maybe I'm just reading too deep into what he said..."_

"It was a bad joke... sorry." Zell shrugged with a pained grin on his face.

_"Of course, Julia. Stupid, stupid, stupid."_ Julia mentally face-palmed as she tried to steer the conversation back onto a reasonable topic. Luckily for her, the relieving force came in the form of the doctor, coming in to check on Zell.

"Hey there, Zell. You doing alright?" The doctor seemed to utterly ignore the fact that a girl was in bed with his patient and focused his attention on the blond man.

"Yea, I'm doing great! When can I leave?" The doctor smiled and wrote a few things on his clipboard.

"Actually, I came to talk to you about that. You're free to go today- here's a note for your teachers and whatnot." The doctor finally acknowledged Julia, but not necessarily in the most inviting sense as his smile morphed into a frown.

"And... well. I can't really give you anything because... you're not technically admitted. Anyway Zell, have a nice life- hopefully I won't see you again." The doctor walked over to Zell, fiddled with the machine registering his IV- after removing the needle and cleaning Zell's arm, the doctor slipped Zell the note and rolled the machine towards the door. Zell was dumbfounded.

"Keep him out of trouble!" The doctor spoke over his shoulder as he exited.

"Release procedures go like that? I thought it'd be a little more... complicated." Julia noted, sitting up in confusion as Zell shrugged, grabbing his keys and dislodging his arm from behind Julia- much to her dismay.

"Hey... Zell?" Julia slid her own legs out of the bed to avoid eye contact with Zell, who had turned to look at her when she called him. She sighed as her feet slid into her shoes- wasn't she just fretting over them moving a little too quickly?

"_A little, Julia? You're in bed with a guy you didn't know three days ago!"_

_"_No... he's different." Julia mumbled, and Zell only heard the 'no' as Julia's sentence was barely audible. Zell shrugged yet again, slipping his keys in his pocket and grabbing his phone off of the hospital bed-tray. Noticing his last grammar exercise uncompleted, he sat back down on the bed, startling Julia out of her daze.

"Zell." The newfound confidence in her voice shocked him a bit, and Zell looked up to see a combination of fear and hopefullness on her face. Julia glanced at her shoes for a brief moment, then shook her head and looked back up; she had to finish her thoughts before she got scared again.

"Why didn't your parents come visit? I'm sure they're worried sick." Zell shook his head and pointed at his phone.

"I text Mom earlier, she's actually expecting me today. Gotta finish this exercise first though." Zell looked back down and started to look over what he had to do; a haiku.

"...And your dad?" Zell sighed and looked up again; the sigh was more of being interrupted twice, but it would prove to be multipurpose, as it was also the second time he'd shared about his late father in less than 48 hours- also two days.

"He passed away when I was little. I... don't remember him much." That was all he was going to say, and all he was expecting out of Julia was an, 'I'm so sorry' and maybe she'd help him on this 'haiku business'. Boy, was he wrong.

"My father, he d-" Julia's voice caught and she looked down to the bed, struggling to keep her composure.

"He passed away about a year ago... in a car accident." Zell's eyes widened- some days he had trouble with coping with a father he barely knew and that he lost years ago- how could she be so strong about the loss of a polar opposite?

Zell put down his pencil and stood up, making his way over to the other side of the bed. He put a hand on each shoulder, standing a bit behind and to her side, prompting her to look up into a face that looked to do nothing but protect her- protect her from whatever may come across their path.

_"Our... path..." _Julia merely leaned back into her new guardian, who guided them back into bed, assuming a familiar position except sitting up.

"I think... I think I know what to write." Zell smiled at Julia, who cocked an eyebrow and allowed Zell his writing arm back.

"_It sure feels cold without his arm around me; I hope he finishes soon."_

_"Ha, you sound like a dependent, clingy child, Julia. I hope you're happy." _

_"Shut up! You don't understand."_

_"Of course I understand, Julia. **I'm you!**_"

_"No! You're **not** me, get **out** of my_ **head!**"

Julia shook her head; her self-arguements seemed to get worse and worse when her father was on her mind.

"_If his arms aren't around me..."_ Julia thought as she wrapped her left arm around his left shoulder, resting her chin on his writing arm's shoulder to peer over and see what he was writing; but he was already done.

Obstacles blocking

The path that's no longer clear

Forge through; I'll guard you.

Zell looked back at his tutor for approval who he hadn't realized was so close to him; their faces neared within centimeters, causing Zell's eyes to widen quickly before reverting to normal. They held an eyelock for a few seconds before Zell spoke, albeit quietly.

"Are you... sure this is what you want?" Julia merely smiled; she'd known from the night she'd talked with her brother.

"Are you?" That was all the approval Zell needed as their eyes closed and he grasped the base of Julia's neck gently, pulling her deep into a kiss filled with passion, mutual longing... and perhaps, was it... the seeds of love?

E/N: Damn. I'm sorry folks for the long wait.

Also, this is not my best writing ever- its so fillery it pains me. Next chapter gets super duper dark- we delve into Seifer's past in this world

Thanks for putting up with me!

Until next time,

_Skij Leonhart_


End file.
